The first NCAA Division III men's volleyball program in the state of Illinois claimed its first Midwest Collegiate Volleyball Tournament title on Saturday afternoon in the Igini Sports Forum, just four short years after playing their first contest as an NCAA Division III program.  The Stars' four set (25-15, 25-14, 19-25, 25-22) over Mount St. Joseph, catapults the eighth-ranked Stars into the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship for the first time in university history.
 
"It was an intense match with Mount St. Joe's," commented Dominican University's head coach Dan Ames following the team's historic win.  "They are an extremely talented team that we respect on and off the court. I couldn't be prouder of these young men."
 
For the Stars, Luke Spicer, named the 2017 MCVL Tournament MVP, carried a hot hand, knocking down a match-high 19 kills on 33 swings while hitting at a .485 clip.  As the match went on, Spicer looked to get better and better, including racking up eight kills in the clinching fourth set.
 
The Stars set the tone for the match early in the first set, racing out to a 7-3 lead to force the first timeout of the afternoon.  The brief break could not slow down Dominican, hitting .474 in the first set behind a balanced attack that saw Spicer and Michal Kawa collect four kills apiece.
 
After leading wire-to-wire in the opening set, Dominican continued to take it to the #15 Lions in the second set, rattling off four straight points to open an 8-4 lead and never look back.  The Stars went 10-for-14 on sideouts, posting 4.5 blocks in the set while Spicer knocked down four kills on just six attacks.
 
The third set saw the Lions become the aggressor, hitting .310 and pulling away from the Stars late.  Senior Alex Vohland carried the Lions from the outside while middles Brett Cooper and Andrew Chisholm heated up in the middle.  Vohland knocked down five kills in the set while Cooper and Chisholm terminated four rallies apiece.
 
Mount St. Joseph carried the third-set win momentum into the fourth, opening a 9-7 lead before a three-point swing for the Stars, capped by a Jeremy Parker ace vaulted the Stars back into the lead.  The two national powerhouses traded blows and leads all the way to 20-20 before a Kawa kill sparked a three-point swing in Dominican's advantage.  After a Lions' sideout, Spicer set up match-point for the Stars with his 19^th kill of the afternoon.  After a Chisholm kill helped the Lions stave off set point, Kawa sealed the Stars' victory with his 12^th kill of the match, launching the Igini Sports Forum into a frenzy.
 
"This is a dream for us," said Nick Timreck during the postgame celebration. "Seeing our parents, families and friends in the stands jumping up and down, almost as excited as we were, made today surreal."
 
Dominican will enter the 2017 NCAA Division III national tournament 26-2 and riding a six-match winning streak.  The Stars will find out the details of their postseason run on Monday as the NCAA releases the 2017 tournament field on a selection show broadcast on NCAA.com at 9:00 a.m. CT.